Category Archives: Adventures in Gaming

This is my burden and the inspiration to redo the $20 Dungeon. Why because it’s gotten too damn big with too much stuff. This bag and those two plastic containers on top are just mini’s and miscellaneous terrain/map bits. That’s right no dice, no rule books, no notebooks. Juggling this stuff when it’s time to run a game is just too dang annoying and cumbersome.
It’s cool to have all sorts of stuff handy when you’re running a game at home but when you’re on the road, you travel lighter and if you’ve gaming for a while you start to accumulate lots of little bits and accessories.
This goal of this post is to get a starting point and start thinking about what to cut out. What’s duplicated, what I don’t need and things are multi-taskers. My main goal (to start) is pare this down so everything fits inside the bag.
Like I said before, I’m getting to switch from Dungeon Crawl Classics to Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells and then after that it’ll be a little Swords & Wizardry White Box. It’s going to be fun and a little bit crafting projects coming up.

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So I did a little updating to the character sheet after some very nice and good feedback. It’s basically the same but looks prettier. I moved a couple of things around and tried to make the Attributes and such stand out a little more. After all, I’m not a graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination. I muddle thru the best I can. Enjoy and keep those dice a rollin’.
Here you go. My Character Sheet V2

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Well, time to catch up on our weary band of travelers in DCC campaign. When we last left our heroes, they had just rescued a young girl with the Gift of Second Sight and were teleported to an unknown location (The Tower of the Mad Mage). Now this idea is sort of backwards adventure. Usually, the characters would break into a place like this but in this case they are breaking out. Each level/room of this dungeon is the same a 50 in diameter circle. Most of it was pretty common type monsters with nothing really super special about them so I won’t bore you with that. So here’s only the good parts.

This place warps magic.
Every time a character casts an arcane spell while inside the tower, roll a d8.
1. Make a Will Save with a DC of the Spell Check. On a fail (of the Save), the spell goes off normally but also roll as if the spell misfired.
2. Make a Fort Save with a DC of the Spell Check. On a fail (of the Save), the spell goes off normally but also roll on the Minor Corruption Table.
3. The character must take 1d3 Spell Burn in order to cast the spell.
4. Add a random (no Luck modification) Mercurial Magic Effect for this casting.
5 to 8. Nothing special. Just cast as normal.

Giant Lamprey Slugs These things gave the party a run for their money.
Init: +0; Atk: +1; Damage: 1d3+Attach; Action Die: d20; AC: 11; HP: 5; Move: 25; Saves; Fort +4, Reflex: -1; Will: +0; Special: Attach: When a Giant Lamprey Slug successfully attacks a target it attaches itself to the target and does 1 HP damage each round after that as it drains the blood from its victim. Yeah sort of stirge like but three-foot long slugs with nasty mouths.
While this may not seem like it would have been a memorable encounter, there is a character with a magic sword that has a chance of turning something he kills into a zombie. This happened multiple times with the slugs. Chop the head off. It stays attached but still sucks blood and the character turned into a blood fountain.

After all the other encounters, Stone Golems, the Wizard’s Ghost, and a trapped apprentice followed by a little looting. The party heads back to town and some down time. Sometimes you have to think of playing DCC is like being in a horror movie. Don’t ever go into the woods by yourself. Even if it’s just to hunt rabbits. ‘Cause like the rabbits could kill you. Yeah, a quick random off-the-top-of-my-head encounter just because.
The characters turn over the girl and spend some time in town. There was Patron Bonding and Carousing with lead to PC’s getting robbed, burning down an inn, getting jailed, and quickly leaving town and heading to their next quest at Demon Crown Hill….

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Been thinking about the upcoming Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells game. And of course thoughts of mad elder gods entered my mind. So what the heck make random table for it. I know you’re smart roll dice and do as you will. Even crazier I have the idea to match this up with an additional class for the game.
So here you: Who’s Your Tentacle Daddy?

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This last week the party of adventurers finished up The Lair of Lennok. Here’s what went down.The Alchemy Lab: No monsters here but the PC’s got to play around with some potions. For loot, there was 500 GP worth of alchemical materials (See Make Potion in your DCC rule book) plus a spell book containing Make Potion. Additionally, there was a”portable” alchemy lab. By portable, I mean a large trunk that required two character to carry. Additionally, there were some curve ball potions that they messed with. Here are the fun ones:
The Little Blue Potion: Yep basically Viagra.
One Shot: One shot and you’re drunk.
Up All Night: The character stays awake and alert all night but gains no benefit from “rest”.
Sort of Invisibility: Drink it and you’re invisible but you’re also blind at the same time.
Stunt Flying: Like a potion a Flying but the drinker flies in a random direction each round.
Invisible Potion: What is says. The potion is invisible. That’s it.
Meteor Shit: Ever see Creep Show? Yep. Make DC: 14 Fort Save on a fail make DC:12 Fort Save each day or lose a point of Stamina and Agility.
Corruption: Make a Stamina Check: On a 20+ gain Minor Corruption. 11 to 19: Major Corruption. 10 or less: Greater Corruption.
Chaos Blender: Make a Fort Save until successful. The DC’s in order: 16/14/12/10/8/6. For each failure re-roll a random ability score and take the new number.
I also threw in some common things just to see what the PC’s would do. They included water, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, soap, and pee.

The Summoning Chamber: A large room with a summoning circle in the middle, a book stand with a large magical tome, and a woman chained to the opposite wall.
The Tome: Contains Demon Summoning spell.
The Circle: Contains the Chitinous Toad Demon with a Snake Tongue. The toad demon is invisible and any character breaking the circle causes it to appear and attack.
The Toad Demon: Init +0; ATK: +6; Damage: Snake Tongue (Reach 10′) 1d3+make DC: 10 Fort Save or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. Bite: 1d6; AC: 12; HP: 36; Saves: +3 for all; Move: 35; Special: Invisible, Snake Tongue, Swallow Whole on a crit, Demon Traits.
The Woman: She’s really a succubus. She’ll maintain her disguise and play a victim to get the PC’s sympathies. She’ll maintain this disguise until the PC’s don’t fall for it or she comes face to face with Lennok. Then her rage and hatred of the mortal wizard who bound her causes her disguise to drop. She cannot attack Lennok directly as a side effect of her summoning/binding but she can help or encourage the characters in other ways.
Lizza the Succubus: Init: +3, Atk: +5 Damage: by weapon or Claws -: 1d6+1; AC: 14, HP: 28, Saves: All at +4; Move 30/40 (flying); Special: Disguise Self, Charm, Demon Traits.

The Inner Sanctum:Lennok’s Chamber: Richly furnished apartment. No monsters here but loot. Some spell scrolls (which were randomly generated thanks to the Purple Sorcerer site), miscellaneous swag worth 750 GP, and some really good food and wine.Lennok’s Wizardly Chamber: And here’s the Boss Fight. We have the girl who was the subject of the quest tied to an operating table. I just generated a 0-Level character which I at the end of the fight I handed the questing player. “Here you go. You found the girl. You just need to keep her alive.”
Lennok: Once again thanks to Purple Sorcerer. Just generated a 6th Level Magic-User.
The Demon Golem Guardian: A Stitched together flesh golem with many demon parts. Init: +0; ATK: +7; Damage: 2d5; AC: 13; HP: 48; Saves: Fort: +6′ Ref: +0, Will: +2;Move: 30; Special: Demon Traits, Golem Traits.
Loot from the fight: Lennok’s spell book.
Also in the room is a magical portal. Press various crystals round its edge and portal opens to somewhere. As soon as Lennok dies, Lizza the Succubus goes to the portal, activates, and goes through. If the PC’s don’t pause to think, “What would be the first place a freed demon would go?” and follow her through the portal. Then congrats. The party just walked into Hell. Nope, my players didn’t fall for that one. The portal now becomes pretty much a plot device. Let the PC’s play with and make some sort decision to go thru and leads to the next adventure/dungeon. Remember, they have a 0-Level kid they have to keep alive.
As a final rant about this adventure, the final fight was more dramatic and exciting both for me and the players than I thought it would be. Between Choking Cloud and Ray of Enfeeblement, Lennok managed to take out everyone in the party except for the Elf and the Thief. The Thief used the Choking Cloud as cover, downed a potion of Invisibility and moved into position for a Sneak Attack. The Elf charged Lennok and used the nasty power of the magic sword they had found previously. As a refresher, the wielder may turn a normal hit into a critical hit but it costs one point of Personality and 1d3 HP (both permanent losses). This simulates the sword consuming the soul and life force of the wielder. The one-two punch of those two characters took out the Wizard quickly. There were many cheers around the table.

Next up. I need to write up some notes for their next adventure.

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I ain’t no scholar. I ain’t no academic. I’m not that smart or good looking. I’m just a guy who wants to roll dice and have some fun. This is my little blog featuring lots of old school RPG stuff and other RPG rants. Remember the cardinal rules. The rules are guidelines. Keep it simple. Roll dice, Kill monsters. Take their stuff. And have fun!

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Mise En Place is cooking term. Basically, doing all your preparation beforehand. And that's what I rant about this episode. Getting ready to run Advanced Labyrinth Lord and all the things I'm trying to get ready.

I rant about my "system neutral" DM Notebook and how it's important and it's important to clean the thing out every once in a while. Also, continue with the reading from the Little Brown Books. This time up: 1st Level Magic-User spells.